Collecting the Durham Bulls: Erik Bedard

I am going to be doing a couple of these a week and will also add players as the Durham Bulls roster changes throughout the summer.  One of the more interesting players on this year's roster is Erik Bedard.  I have a feeling that his stay in Durham may be a short one, so we are going to go ahead and get him out of the way first. 

 

Bedard's rookie card was in the 2001 Bowman Draft set and he was a highly regarded prospect at the time of his cardboard debut.  His first full season in the Majors was 2004 with the Orioles.  He spent four years with the O's and his best season was easily 2007.  While Bedard's record was only 13-5, he posted an ERA right above 3.00 with more than 200 strikeouts and an ERA+ of 146.  The Orioles traded Bedard to the Mariners for Adam Jones and a few others.  

Bedard was a solid pitcher after his trade to the Mariners, but never duplicated his 2007 season.  He  ended up also spending time with the Red Sox, Pirates, and Astros.  This spring he auditioned for the fifth starters roll with the Rays, but lost the battle to former Bulls pitcher Jake Odorizzi.  Most thought Bedard would opt to go elsewhere, but after some foot dragging, ended up in Durham.  I would expect him to end up in Tampa sooner than later, or end up opting out of his Minor League contract at some point for opportunities elsewhere.  

Bedard has plenty of cards floating around and there are plenty of good pieces to add.  He has several different autographs and relics, not to mention the normal spattering of short prints, serial numbers, parallels, printing plates, etc.  The best Bedard card in my collection is a copy of his 2007 Bowman's best.  

 

At the time of this set's release this card was a pretty good pull.  In fact, I am pretty sure that I easily paid more than $10 for this card.  They can now be found for less than $5.  If I had to go out and buy a Bedard autograph this afternoon I would recommend a copy of his Bowman autograph from 2002.

 

The card is readily available, features a nice on-card autograph, and also is pretty cheap.  Here's the last one that sold on Ebay.  Less than $5 shipped.  Cannot beat that.  Bedard does have a Co-Signers autograph with Adam Jones, but I am not a big fan of Co-Signers autographs.  Especially when there is a significant gap in the talent level of the two players.  Not to poo poo on Bedard, but give me a nice Adam Jones autograph (by himself) anyday.  Bedard is scheduled to make his Bulls debut on Monday.  Looking forward to seeing him pitch a few times before the inevitable day of reckoning comes.